DayMiiAwn And The Magic Railroad (Director's Cut)
I feel I'm one of the few people who really likes the Magic Railroad Deleted Storylines. Here are some random thoughts on it.
For starters P.T. Boomer wasn't at all what I expected, but I enjoyed him none the less. It was weird how Doug Lennox delivered certain lines ("It's gonna be mine, all mine" is just begging to be said in an over-the-top maniacal voice), but there was a lot of restraint to the performance that made the character feel more real and menacing. He was basically just the aged-up version of how a playground bully would behave in this kind of movie, and I think it adds some relatability to the dynamic between him and Burnett. This is more a personal note, but I find characters (not just villains in specific) who are willing to carelessly destroy other people's belongings to be deeply upsetting, so watching him stroll through Burnett's garden and punching Mr. Conductor's flower basket might have really scared me as a kid, which I'm not saying is a bad thing. Funnily, I think the general character trait of disrespecting nature is pretty good for Boomer. It could be a nice additional subtext to the movie, if the steam engines themselves weren't so bad for the environment.
I don't really mind the lack of engine characters. Before the workprint and deleted storylines released, I was only really interested in the missing Sodor scenes, but when these things released with so little to offer, I took the time to really watch these new human scenes, and I think together they make a perfectly compelling story about familial discourse.
Burnett is the grandfather. In Lily's eyes, that means he's supposed to be a warm, welcoming figure. But ever since the love of his life passed away, Burnett has become a recluse, contacted only by his far away family and his occasional errand boy Patch.
Lily no longer enjoys visiting her grandpa, but if finally forced when her father is away on business and her mother is about to give birth. She crafts him a friendship bracelet, which her grandma taught her to make, in the hopes that it will finally cheer him up. Despite how mature Lily makes herself out to be, she still maintains a childish mentality about the whole thing, that because Burnett is the grandpa, he's supposed to remain a consistently positive presence.
When Lily does arrive, she shares a deathly quiet dinner with her grandpa, in what is probably the least cheerful scene filmed for the movie. Afterward, she shows Burnett the bracelet and tries in vain to put it on him. Burnett pushes her away. Lily goes to bed, and only after she's gone is Burnett willing to let his grief show.
The next day, Lily tries to casually bring up the subject of her grandma, and Burnett plays dumb. Sick of trying to connect with him, Lily storms off to where she ends up meeting Patch. It's good to know why she looked so pissed off in the finished movie.
Patch is hardworking, loyal, and deeply respects his elders like Billy and Burnett. Though he comes off as kind of a blank slate in the final movie, in the deleted scenes he's one of the nicest characters in the movie. Just his willingness to maintain long, wistful stories from old men proves that he has the patience of a saint. He's just a good, old fashioned country boy who's willing to help anyone.
He brings Lily to Shining Time Station, then leaves for a while to do one of his many errands. And when he returns Lily is missing. Patch has shown interest in the mysterious before, but he's never shown any awareness of the magical properties of Shining Time, so when Lily simply disappears, he doesn't know what to think, leading to my favorite Cody McMains performance in the whole movie, where he sounds genuinely distraught by everything that's taken place.
Something I find interesting is how Burnett's grief over his wife and his grief over Lady are treated as two wholly different plotlines, one pertaining more to Lily and the other pertaining to Boomer. Patch sits in the middle of both conflicts, and it's a little awkward watching him juggle all the different roles he needs to fill. Most noteworthy is the scene where he shamefully admits to Burnett that he doesn't know where Lily is. That Burnett put his trust in Patch, and Patch failed him. Surprisingly, Burnett isn't angry, but as he quietly walks away, Patch then flip-flops to questioning him about the lost engine, and even gets sort of interrogative with him, when he was just apologizing to him a moment ago. Then Boomer shows up, and tries to bribe Patch for information in what's actually a kind of creepy scene. Here is where Patch shows him true colors. He stands by Burnett and refuses Boomer's offer, and it's the most firm he's ever been with someone.
Here we get the complete version of Lady's backstory, which was senselessly chopped in half in the final version of the film. Presenting the big reveal scene in two separate halves makes Patch visiting Burnett in his secret workshop look like a common occurrence, and doesn't really achieve the same impact the scene was written with the intent to have.
Lily leaving to go to Shining Time is when the wedge in her relationship with Burnett is driven the furthest. Burnett knows where Lily went, and in his eyes, it means she doesn't want to be around him. In Lily's eyes, Burnett is just some sad sack who wants to wallow in his own misery, and sees her presence as a burden.
Meanwhile, on Sodor, Lily has observed the behaviors of Mr. Conductor and Junior, one a responsible gentleman, the other a party dude, and when they're together, they never stop arguing. Yet, when Junior is abducted, Mr. Conductor is deeply concerned about him, because in the end, they're family, and they love one another unconditionally. When Mr. Conductor explains this to Lily at the campfire, he's not lecturing her, he's simply stating a fact, then asks her opinion. Lily seems to reject the idea momentarily, but slowly realizes there's nothing there to disagree with. She does love her grandfather, no matter what mood he's in. She decides to go home.
She reunites with Burnett, and the two finally share a heart-to-heart. Burnett opens up about his grief for Tasha, and manages to tie it back into his failure with Lady. This time, when Burnett shows a slight hesitance to speak, Lily supports him, rather then running away. Lily tightens the bracelet around Burnett's wrist. He doesn't push her away.
Tasha and Lady are intrinsically tied. Bringing Lady back also honors Tasha's memory. From here, Burnett is like a different character. Even during the chase scene, where he vicariously confronts Boomer, he seems to have a playful attitude about the whole thing. That's the hidden beauty of the chase scene, I think. Burnett is enjoying it the same way the audience is enjoying it.
In the final movie, we don't see Burnett or Lily again after the transition from the bluebird, but of course, in the workprint and deleted storylines, Lily narrates the story' conclusion, and shows us that after coming home, Burnett was willing to let people into his life again. Inviting the whole family over to visit and reconnecting with Billy Twofeathers. He lived out the rest his days peacefully.
Patch, by allying himself with the side of good, not only got to see the sights of Sodor, but would also end up marrying Lily, showing how this strange experience helped him form lifelong bonds.
And our protagonist Lily has learned the true value of family.
Oh, and Thomas is there too.
